Blogs from Guatemala City, Capital Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 6

A wrinkle leaving Honduras. Border Crossings are always fraught with possibilities. (yellow dot) I crossed too many, eight, on this trip. The drill is: everybody out of the bus, unload all your baggage from the roof of the bus, wait in line for emigration, wait in line for immigration visa, go through customs, walk a block to wait for the bus to go through customs, load all the baggage back on the roof, everyone back on the bus—hope you get your seat back. Agents present calm intimidators, knowing that even on this boring day, and they are all boring days, a cheap thrill can be had by an arbitrary unnecessary decision, just to watch us squirm. Our agent wore a crisp uniform, a tight hair bun and hard dark eyes. As we approached her throne ... read more

I went back to Iztapa ( MY HOME TOWN, PLACE OF BIRTH ) for the first time in 20 years. Iztapa still the same town I left back in 1989. some new faces, but the same town. I had fun, and I would recommend you visit this small town in the Pacific coast of Guatemala. Iztapa is a poor town, well all Guatemala is ppor, so dont expect to find a 5 star hotel in Iztapa, but the people in Guatemala is warm, friendly, and welcoming to outsiders ( tourist ) So please visit Iztapa, and see for yourself. Please understand & dont expect high end facilities, becasue you will not find them. If you dont mind roughing it then This is the place for you. Try a trek in the Maria Linda River, try the ... read more

It's three days since we officially made the transition from North to Central America, via Mexico into Guatemala. And what a change. The whole country is going bonkers in the run up to independence day, which is the 15th of September. They managed to kick out the Spanish in 1823, and it was obviously such a big relief that they celebrate it each year with a massive party lasting two days. It's a very poor country (the lowest GDP in all of Central and South America), but the friendliness of the people, the colours, and the subtropical volcanic landscape make it a superb place to ride through. The majority of the population are indigenous, being descendants of the Mayans, whose ruined cities lie engulfed under thick forest. They are a very compact people (PC speak for ... read more

It was a few hour bus ride from San Salvador to Guata (as the locals call it). Toby had recommended we take one of the express buses, and we went with a company that had departures every hour and a half. He had mentioned that the other buses 'Take forever'. For Toby to take the more expensive option, the cheaper one must be really bad. I had heard that Guata was not he safest city in the region, so I booked us into a more expensive lodging option, $18 for the room @ the Hotel Colonial . It had nice ambiance, with nice hard wood floors in our room, and the room had decent amount of square footage as well. With free WIFI and free water, coffee and cookies, I thought it was a good deal. ... read more

You may be wondering, with all this soul searching are you having any fun, Cynthia? All right. I’ll blow my own cover. I am having a blast. I am lucky to have a full eight weeks this time to study and explore. Other students that live in mi casa have shorter time. I have become fast friends with many of them. There was the beautiful, young Debbie from Newport beach whose rubio (blonde) hair turned heads everywhere she went. She lit up the dinner table with stories of her adventures. And she spoke really good spanish. Joanne from Florida, was intelligent, organized and creative. Her boyfriend Henry, joined her for a week before she started spanish school. She was a master of the markets and the maps. Her experience as a nurse and doctor of chinese ... read more